>Audible giving creators only a 25% cut (or 40% if they sign an exclusive deal) is absolutely exploitative.
Also, who are the creators? I mean, does the author of the book have to share that piece of the cake with the narrator as well? that makes the cut even lower.
why would anyone give a % of income to a narrator? That's a service you pay for once and thats it. They don't have to read it again for each customer. They just get hired to read and record it the first time.
This feels contrived. And is in the face of, for example, how Disney tried to not pay a Star Wars writer.
I agree it feels like this could be easy to argue one way or another. I am willing to assert it is often not simple and many of the complications are from pushing simple solutions.
the star wars writer is just a contract worker. He doesn't own star wars etc. But he should still get paid according to the agreement disney inherited.
Contrived because, "primary owner" of a story is somewhat silly. It kind of works for one off books, but even there has issues. Get into performances and collaborations, and it falls hard.
You will quickly get into situations where corporations own things, and then all semblance of personal ownership and control are questionable, at best.
If you release of a cover (ie a performance) of a song someone else wrote you own the copyright on the recording of that performance and are entitled to compensation for use of that recording.
There's not real any intrinsic difference between a recorded performance of a song someone else wrote and recorded narration of a book someone else wrote. The audiobook recording has its own copyright, which can be owned by the narrator. It's usually not though, being recorded for hire with the narrator ceding all rights.
> If you release of a cover (ie a performance) of a song someone else wrote you own the copyright on the recording of that performance and are entitled to compensation for use of that recording.
negative. if you're covering a song in copyright you need a license agreement from the owner if you intend to monotize it. You own a copyright to your version but you can't make money from it.
Not true in the US due to compulsory licensing. [0] There's no permission required to publish or monetise a recording of an existing musical work - you just have to provide notice to the copyright holder and pay a statutory royalty. The mechanical rate for the sale of a recording is the greater of 9.1c for the song or 1.75c per minute of playtime. Streaming royalties are handled by blanket agreements with companies like Spotify.
The narrator is similarly inseparable from the performative work (as, say, an orchestral recording of a symphony), the only difference seems to rest in who has the power and incentive to claim royalties.
None of this explicitly follows from first principles, it's all just negotiation for what, through the vehicle of contract law, will get enforced by social convention and the fist of the government.
>None of this explicitly follows from first principles, it's all just negotiation for what, through the vehicle of contract law, will get enforced by social convention and the fist of the government.
Absolutely. But there are many more people who can voice audiobooks than there are high quality writers, and the writer's work is being the primary author of the work. It doesn't make any sense for the owner to give % of the profit unless the narrator would attract business on their own.
Actually, this is my favourite way to find new authors.
As an example, R.C. Bray narrated The Martian by Andy Weir, and I loved his narration so much I looked for other books that Bray had narrated. One such book was Planetside by Michael Mammay, which was Mammay's first and only book at the time. I have since read all 5 of his books, and he's now one of my favourite authors.
almost always the songwriter sells or licenses the music, or otherwise retains controls of it. but they have complex contracts with other terms involved because the industry is complicated by record label contracts.
Also, who are the creators? I mean, does the author of the book have to share that piece of the cake with the narrator as well? that makes the cut even lower.